This has been a good few days for animals – lots of deer, turkeys, coyotes, and a new butterfly.
On Saturday evening I took a walk from about 6:30 until almost 8:00 – the sun was going down, but it wasn’t dusk until the very end of the walk. I saw 18 deer in several different groups. The largest group was on the Cat’s Paw Prairie, almost at the end of our land – it had 7 deer – 3 does, 3 bucks, and one fawn. One of the bucks had huge antlers with four points on each side – the biggest antlers I’ve ever seen.

And I saw 3 coyotes. One of them was chasing some turkeys. I saw the turkeys first – flying away in fright – they were way behind me and not looking at me at all. I looked on the crest of the hill, and saw the coyote watching as the last turkey raced by it and flew away.

Further on I saw one coyote walk into the bushes right at the top of the cabin trail, and another one, which looked smaller, walk right toward me. Every so often it would stop and look around, and then keep coming! I was actually getting a little worried – I was afraid it would walk right up to me. But eventually it noticed me, stopped abruptly, ran back a little, and then faded into the bushes.

There have been lots of Screech Owls lately – some way down at the end of the Tork’s Valley, and some closer to our house.

And today I saw (and photographed) a new butterfly.

It was fluttering around near the Y, and I chased it for about 10 minutes, trying to take it’s picture. It’s a Variegated Fritillary.

Mike watched some folks on the road tonight who stopped their black pickup and looked at us with binoculars. He looked back at them with binoculars and waved – they didn’t wave back – they just drove away. A little unsettling.